Sherman Requests Classified Briefing on Russian-led Hacking

Press Release

In a letter sent to President Barack Obama, Congressman Brad Sherman, a senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, requested a classified briefing for all members of the U.S. House Representatives at the start of the 115th Congress on Russian hacking, selective email leaks, falsified media reports, and other activities that affected the 2016 U.S. election.

Sherman writes, "It is important that all Members can fully comprehend the potential damage these attacks may have caused to U.S. institutions and processes, and be able to properly assess policy moving forward."

"The way forward can only be decided once the severity of what happened is understood," Sherman said. "We need to be focused on analyzing and understanding the facts rather than playing politics."

Specifically, Sherman requested that top officials of the Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, and State Department, provide information on the following points:

How the U.S. Intelligence Community is aware that Russia was involved in cyber-attacks on U.S. institutions and federal elections
An outline of methodologies used by Russian-backed cyber attackers
How we can be sure of the level of coordination between the highest levels of the Russian government and those conducting the attacks
Prospective targets of future cyber attacks
How Russia uses cyber-attacks on other democracies
How the U.S. can respond to cyber-attacks

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